Travel bloopers

31/01/2018

As I am preparing the travel stories and posts from our recent trip, I thought I will share some moments that usually go by the name of “unplanned stuff“. You know, the situations that happen whether you want it or not. Like delayed flights, or forgotten belongings, or whatever little/big things that make your stress levels go through the roof. (Ok, I am exaggerating a bit, but I guess you know the feeling…) But the best thing is that this usually leaves us with some laughs and stories at the end.

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Our latest trip did have a few “bloopers” of the kind.

So we had three flights in total to get to Singapore. Bergen – Oslo, Oslo – Doha, Doha – Singapore. All this in a span of almost 20-24 hours. The first two flights went quite easy, we watched some movies, had food, some wine (because vacation!) and were really excited for the trip. Then we landed in Doha and had some hours to spare before our last flight – so we went to Duty Free looking for a perfume (mind it, we were pretty tired as it was midnight already). A bit dizzy from all the smells, we boarded our plane, and were looking forward to a bit of sleep and resting. We had our dinner, G. fell asleep, and I decided to watch some more movies (aka could not sleep, I usually never sleep on a flight). So I am sitting there, and I watch G. wake up, saying he’s feeling sick and if I could let him go to the bathroom. Immediately, I felt worried and decided to follow him “just in case”. After that there were two very intense movie-like minutes that unraveled right before my eyes. I see G. trying to grab the bathroom door, trying to open it, and even though his eyes are wide open, I understand that he sees nothing. I am trying to ask what is happening, and right at that moment I see him falling down like a still standing tree. Just like that. Let me tell you, this was one of the scariest moments of my life. I did not know what was happening. I felt sick myself! Many many thoughts were going on in my head, but thankfully the stewardesses were right there, very helpful and very professional about this situation. It turns out, it was way too little hydration (you are supposed to drink a good amount of water on the flight), a bit of wine, tiredness, and lack of oxygen. So he fainted. Thankfully, he went away from this with a little bruise on his hand and some lessons for future travels.

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Our second “incident” happened in Australia. We had a rental car that we picked up in Darwin and drove it to Sydney (crossing the country from North to South with a stop at Uluru, Adelaide, then Great Ocean road, Melbourne, and finally Sydney). It was one piece of a road trip, very fun and memorable for sure! On our second week of the trip we arrived to Melbourne just for a short stay (half a day) – to explore the city a bit. We parked our car in a big parking lot (the one with several levels, well lit, etc) in the middle of the city and went out for some sights. When we came back, it was already evening, so we had to get moving to find an overnight spot. After driving for an hour we stopped at a gas station that has spots for campers like us (people who sleep in cars :D). And then we noticed that our licence plate in the back is missing! Did we lose it on the road? Did it get stolen?? Can we drive? Oh man, again, one of the situations that you don’t want to deal with. We reported it to the police over the phone that night, found a rental office that was close to us the next morning, went to the police station to take the report with us, and were set to drive. 😀 Oh, and it was stolen – either as a souvenir, or for whatever reasons… And that happened in the parking lot, in Melbourne. We were very aware of our remaining licence plate for the last part of our trip 😀

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Our last day of the vacation has to be the most eventful one. Like all the best bits of the unplanned stuff happen at once! So we were in Los Angeles, and every time we are here, I feel very good! Not wanting to leave – good. I guess, my thoughts went into the universe 😀 We got the message that our flight got delayed for several hours. Well, ok, that means we have a bit more time here! All happy we went to do some shopping, and drove through a red light (with a rental car…and got a lovely flash from a camera, a big – oops). This meant we could end up with a fine, a big one…(maybe not, hopefully not). Then we got lost in time in the evening, and got stuck in a really bad LA traffic, that kept us on our nerves because we were about to miss our time for the rental car return. Eventually, we made it. 1 minute before the timeframe. 😀 And lastly, G. forgot his bag with some purchases on the transfer bus to the airport. We sorted it out, but I was exhausted at that point to say the least…

But what’s an adventure without some spice in it, right? Hehe… wish you all safe travels! 😉